Suspicious package puts Milford on edge

Daniel Tepfer

Updated 11:37 pm, Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Photo: Connecticut Post

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Bus driver George Cole watches as State Police cautiously approach his bus on Bridgeport Avenue Tuesday morning. Roads were closed and several businesses were evacuated in Milford Tuesday morning after suspicious package was found on a Milford Transit District bus. The backback left by a passenger, contained personal items. The area was reopened before 10 a.m. less

Bus driver George Cole watches as State Police cautiously approach his bus on Bridgeport Avenue Tuesday morning. Roads were closed and several businesses were evacuated in Milford Tuesday morning after ... more

Photo: Connecticut Post

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Roads were closed and several businesses were evacuated in Milford Tuesday morning after suspicious package was found on a Milford Transit District bus. The backback left by a passenger, contained personal items. The area was reopened before 10 a.m. less

Roads were closed and several businesses were evacuated in Milford Tuesday morning after suspicious package was found on a Milford Transit District bus. The backback left by a passenger, contained personal ... more

Photo: Connecticut Post

Image 3 of 3

Roads were closed and several businesses were evacuated in Milford Tuesday morning after suspicious package was found on a Milford Transit District bus. The backback left by a passenger, contained personal items. The area was reopened before 10 a.m. less

Roads were closed and several businesses were evacuated in Milford Tuesday morning after suspicious package was found on a Milford Transit District bus. The backback left by a passenger, contained personal ... more

Photo: Connecticut Post

Suspicious package puts Milford on edge

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MILFORD -- George Cole is a veteran when it comes to suspicious activity on buses.

A professional bus driver for 30 years, Cole acted quickly and calmly Tuesday when a passenger on his Greater Bridgeport Transit bus told him he found an unattended backpack on a seat.

"We got training on Saturday about what to do if we find something suspicious on our bus," he said. But Cole already had on-the-job training.

After 9/11, Cole was driving a bus from New York to Boston when a passenger reported something suspicious going on in the bus.

"The passenger told me that a passenger sitting in front of him was looking at detailed photographs of the George Washington and Whitestone bridges on his laptop," he said. "I called police, and when we got to Hartford the police took the man off the bus."

Shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday, Cole was driving his regular route south on Bridgeport Avenue when a passenger, whom he had just picked up, came forward and told him he had found something suspicious on a seat.

"He had gone to the back of the bus, and there was this black backpack on the seat," Cole said.

He immediately pulled the bus over.

"I asked the other passengers if they knew who left the backpack there, and when they said no, I evacuated everyone from the bus and called police."